OLOF Mellberg has given Aston Villa a welcome lift by declaring his intentions to see out the remainder of his contract with Villa before joining Juventus in the summer.

OLOF Mellberg has given Villa a welcome lift by declaring his intentions to see out the remainder of his contract with Villa before joining Juventus in the summer.

But Villa are ready to lose the services of promising defender Gary Cahill as Bolton look set to finally land the 22-year-old for a fee believed to be around £4.5million.

Swedish defender Mellberg, aged 30, held talks with Martin O'Neill today and spelled out his desire to stay for the remaining 14 matches before moving to Turin.

Mellberg, who has made 252 appearances since joining from Racing Santander almost seven years ago, made no attempt to say his goodbyes following the 1-1 draw with Blackburn, despite the Holte End chanting his name.

Sources close to Mellberg have indicated he believed Villa would try harder to keep him on a permanent basis.

Juventus made a bid to sign him immediately at the end of last week, but will formally announce his summer signing later today.

Meanwhile, Gary Megson appears close to capturing Cahill after the player changed his mind and expressed a desire to leave Villa, not just go out on loan.

"All the time, up until very recently, Gary has been thinking about going on loan somewhere until the end of the season," said O'Neill.

"Bolton are one of a number of clubs who were initially interested in taking Gary on loan. They put a bid in which we didn't accept.

"I didn't say anything to Bolton. At that stage, Gary was saying it wouldn't really have mattered whether they came back with a higher bid because he had in his mind the idea of going back out on loan. But things might change."

O'Neill was never too keen on a loan switch.

He added: "If we send him out to a Premier side or back to Sheffield United we won't have his services again this season, so it is a balancing act."